Lasting A Lifetime
by Anna Black
Summary: CHAPTER 9 UP! James & Lily's life from the engagement night to their tragic death are imitated by the lifeline of a rose. Voldemort's rising (told through Snape) can't stop their loving each other. Or can it? James will be drunk again, eventually...
1. James Meets His Inner-Hagrid

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter One:

Leaves Unfurl 

"The plant of Roses, though it be a shrub full of 

prickles, yet it had been more fit and convenient 

to have placed it with the most glorious floures 

of the world than to insert the same among 

base and thorny shrubs.-"

Gerald's _HERBALL_ (1597)

James leaned heavily on Sirius and Remus as his own feet would not support him.

"Damn, James. You know you're not a drinking man," panted Sirius. "Why'd you ever pick up the whiskey?"

"'Cause it's me weddin' night, and I plan on gettin' drunker still," James slurred noisily. "I'll plan on buying all of Godric's Hollow a good spot o' rum!"

He looped his arms out of Remus and Sirius' grasps and waved to Mrs. Whitaker who was making tut-tut noises at her windowsill.

"Hey! Mrs. Whitaker, you old windbag neighbor of mine! Come on, we'll show ya a good time at the Swaying Lion!"

Mrs. Whitaker slammed her window shut in response.

"Bitch," he mumbled not so quietly. 

"Lily!" yelped Remus as Sirius opened the garden gate, and they stumbled inside. "Lily! Help!" A faint light flickered from inside. Remus sighed with relief. He couldn't help support James half a week after the full moon. God knew how he had lasted THIS long. 

The door flew open and Lily was framed romantically in the middle. In silk lingerie with James's overcoat thrown over it, she looked so damned lovely. And with a candle in one hand, Remus almost gasped at her maternal beauty. James tried to iron out the slurring as he spoke. 

"Nice to see yer home, Lillers."

Lily looked disappointed. "I told you to reassure him, not bring out his inner-Hagrid."

"Sorry, Lils. There was no way to avoid it. We were driving around trying to show him places that meant something to the two of you. We drove by and James said he wanted a memory of a drink on his last bachelor night. So we went in, and James had more money on him than we thought," Sirius said.

"It's okay." Lily looped her arms through his and took most of the weight. "I got him. You two go on ahead. I'll take care of him."

"You sure?" asked Sirius. He looked worriedly at the half-unconscious James, limp in his future wife's arms. 

"I got it Sirius. Go. You too, Remus. Don't worry." Her face broke into a mischievous grin. "Besides, I think you've forgotten some wizard back in a Muggle pub."

"Peter!" Remus and Sirius shouted simultaneously. They ran back towards the street, Remus with a slight limp. Sirius jumped over the whitewashed picket fence. Remus merely opened the gate and turned back to smile slyly at Lily. 

"Don't tell Sirius I _did_ remember him, all right? I just didn't want to carry another drunk three miles."

Lily pressed her lips together in the pale starlight to represent her silence. Remus thanked her and ran off to catch up with a bear-sized dog loping off to a building called the B.A.S.H. (Bartenders Against Stupid Housewives). 

~

Lily deposited the groaning body on the bed and yanked open his pajama drawer. She grabbed a plaid flannel shirt and polka-dot pants. The tackiness would be a good punishment when he went to get the newspaper in the morning. 

"Why'd you do it, James? I love you…" A tear ran down Lily's cheek as she thought about her beloved James becoming a regular. Because of her.

James sat up and reached for her. "I love you too, Lillers-"

"Stop calling me names like that, James. It makes me want to love you…"

He took her hand in his and kissed her on the lips. Hard. Lily found herself kissing him back, despite her tears and laughter. James stopped kissing for a moment, whispering, "I love you. I'm sorry."

Lily laughed and kissed him.

"I understand."

A/N: I'm praying for 10 reviews. Please include any constructive criticism. 


	2. Jamesero & Liliet

Disclaimer: I know I haven't done this lately, but if this is what you read for, you need to rethink your priorities.

A/N: Here's a long one - I'm gonna be involving lots of flowers and garden descriptions in the future. I'm doing my research, so it should be pretty clear to picture. Those of you who know my true identity can ask to see the books I'm using if ya wanna.

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Two:

A Bud Appears

"Ask not why of the rose;

She flowers because she flowers. -"

Angelus Silesius 

James woke up with a hangover. The fowl stench of sickness wafted upward from the toilet he was slouched over. 

Wiping his mouth on the terry-cloth towel in his right hand, he left the master bathroom. Lily was sprawled on the bed, her hair covering near both pillows, resembling the snaky locks of Medusa. Her mouth was slightly ajar, small snoring sounds issuing from her throat. The nightgown had slipped to reveal the slope of one breast. James lovingly stroked one pink cheek, and Lily's eyes fluttered open.

She stretched and while yawning, she said, "Did Mrs. Whitaker praise your pajamas that I so _lovingly_ picked out for you?"

"I got compliments from all of our adoring neighbors, _darling_." Lily laughed exuberantly, and James couldn't resist smiling at her. 

Then his eyes caught sight of the alarm clock on Lily's side of the bed (it was there for a reason - Lily could never wake up to turn the damn thing off, and James would be forced to crawl over her to curse it to pieces. Then Lily would either kiss him or knee him where it hurt most - she always apologized directly afterwards, but drinking coffee with the ice over your nuts is not a good way to start the day.). It was much too late to still be at his home. He needed to be at the hotel with Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

Grabbing a covered tux and throwing on his overcoat, he dashed to the door. Maybe he could pick up a nice flower on the way… wait … James sneered. Lily had always loved that rose growing on Mrs. Whitaker's home. Removing his wand from his sleeve, he pointed it at the bud on the far side that was just beginning to bloom. "_Severus_," he gritted. The bud fell to the ground. It had been cut neatly at the ideal length. "_Accio bud_." It soared through the air into his open hand. Perfect, in every possible aspect. The formation, the petals, the colors, the tint of green on the leaves… James shook his head like a dog out of water and began walking briskly towards the hotel. 

Deverton was a far more wizarding community than Muggle, but there were still too many to come out in the open and wave wands in the streets. One of the many charity towns in England founded by Godric Gryffindor, Deverton showed many signs of wizardry. The names of the ancient buildings and streets were to do with Hogwarts (The Swaying Lion, Serpent Apothecary, Eagle Street, Hufflepuff Avenue, Ravenclaw Courthouse, etc.), but the Muggles dismissed it as part of the "uniqueness" of Deverton. The outdoor courtyard Lily and James were to marry at was called the Forbidden Sanctuary. It wasn't really forbidden, but it certainly kept tourists out of their beautiful park. 

As James flew in the door, the hotel man tossed James his key; he knew which room he wanted since it had been reserved several times. 

Hotel room 7G was painted scarlet and gold with very antique wallpaper of lions. Magic kept the décor intact, so that no designer would ever ruin its Hogwarts perfection. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were already inside. Sirius was mumbling about the unneeded complications of Muggle outfits, and Peter moaned about the attendance of Muggles to the reception, which meant he couldn't get around as a rat during the dinner party. Remus said nothing as he fidgeted with the white rose in his pocket.

Sirius looked up as James entered the door. "Where in the hell have you been? We were supposed to meet here half an hour ago!"

"Sorry." James shrugged his shoulder to emphasize. "The final stages of a hangover, making passionately my last statement of love before it becomes permanent, cutting the perfect rose for my tuxedo-"

"Where?!" burst Remus. He had a passion for flowers, particularly roses. James smiled and handed the delicate species to his unfortunate friend. Sniffing, peering, feeling, Remus mumbled Latin under his breath. "Definitely of the order Cicurum… possibly of the family Fidelgia… maybe … just maybe…" Remus stopped his thinking abruptly. "Where did you get this rose, James?"

James had to grope in his mind for a moment, for he hadn't been expecting this question. "Off Mrs. Whitaker's rose bush. She has a wild one growing up the side of her house that Lily loves. Why?"

"It's odd, that she should favor this species. I wish you knew more about roses, James. I don't think you'd appreciate wearing it if you were aware of its Latin name."

"What is it?" Remus had never managed to incite his interest like this over a stupid flower. 

"I don't want to spoil it for you. Just don't plant it in your yard, okay?" 

Remus had to be joking. Was it honestly important what flowers Lily planted in the front yard? 

James just smiled and laid the delicate blossom on the dresser. Pointing his wand at the tux cover, it unzipped and hovered in the air. James unfastened his robe, and his three friends turned their heads for privacy. 

Buttoning the very last pearl button, James secured the cumberbun and shook out the pants. He looked... well… overdressed. With scraggly hair impossible to tame, it seemed odd. So much formality and chaos in one room, bickering with each other. However, there was nothing he could do. Lily and he had decided on the suit and had built everything else around it. Too bad he didn't have any hair gel…

~

Lily was tired. Her friend Melanie was sitting across from her on the couch, wearing the special dress that proved her as the maid of honor. She wouldn't shut-up.

Lily stood up and fluffed out her red hair. "Melly, can we gossip later? I need to get in my dress, fix my hair, put on my make-up, make sure everything is ready, call Rowena's Fine Dining and make sure our appointment is held fast, make sure the limousine is ready for pick-up -"

Melanie put her hand over her best friend's mouth. "Let's just go get the bride ready, okay?"

Lily smiled and nodded. Melanie removed her hand. 

Lily's dress was plain and simple, but elegant all the same. Made of ivory-colored silk and laced with pearls around the oval-like neckline, every person who had been lucky enough to see her in it had gasped in awe. The same glazed beads that also adorned her breast crusted the waist and the hem. It had been dry-cleaned last night, making it wrinkleless. Lily slipped it over her head and put her arms through the minute straps. Melanie zipped up the back for her. It fit snugly, but not uncomfortably.

Melanie took a brush and began to run it through Lily's hair. Knots unfolded and tangled hairs were gently pulled away from Lily's scalp. Melanie left the brush and took out a comb to smooth out the smaller snags. She pulled it gently through until each hair combined together with another, glossy and elegant. Taking two handfuls of hair, she laced them somehow together to form a net around Lily's hair. 

Lily gazed at her bouquet which was resting on the bathroom counter in front of her. Last night while James was out, she had quietly visited Mrs. Whitaker. The old bag had opened the door and nearly slammed it shut again in her face. But Lily had literally put her foot in the door. As much as it had hurt, the old lady didn't try to shut it further. She had soothed Mrs. Whitaker with her voice like a boy to a horse. She had listened and agreed to lend Lily the roses for her bouquet. As long as she could attend the ceremony. Lily had reluctantly resolved. Stepping out with a pair of clippers, the old, wrinkled woman was oddly gentle with the flowers, lifting them up to cut them ever so gently, permanently destroying their lives. Maybe she wasn't such a bitch after all… Lily shook her head to banish the stupid thoughts. Of course she was. 

With the extra rose that Mrs. Whitaker had given her (it had been close to falling apart like all Hybrid Tea roses did, and Lily had asked politely if she might use it), Melanie took a petal and created a chessboard with the pinkish-orange petals. "Done," she said proudly. Holding up a mirror to the back of her head, Lily could look into the mirror she was facing and see the effect. 

"Melly… it's…"

"Gorgeous? Radiant? Astonishing? All of the above?"

Lily turned around and hugged her maid of honor close. "You're my very best friend. I love you."

Melanie laughed. "I'm pretty sure those are the words you should be telling your fiancé in an hour." 

"An hour?!" Melanie placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Lily sighed. "Perhaps I should trust our plans?" Melanie nodded. 

"Well then, what do I do for a whole hour?" 

"Nothing." Melanie grinned evilly. "Well, perhaps you could memorize your vows, but that would make James feel bad for not memorizing his."

Lily sighed. "D'you think I could call the limo company and ask if they could come early and we could drive around one last time?" Her hands were wringing desperately.

"Sure. Why not?" 

Lily whooped with joy. Melanie picked up the phone and pressed the temporary speed-dial button labeled "Limo Co." in James's scratchy handwriting. 

The limousine was in front of the house promptly in fifteen minutes. 

~

Two men were setting up an electric piano as James hopped out of Sirius' covered Mustang. The pastor greeted him, but James just waved the old man aside. He wanted to talk to the woman who was helping to arrange the four dozen chairs. 

"I can't believe you brought him!" James eyes were roaring with fire.

"I wouldn't care if my boyfriend was Jack the Ripper! I'd still bring him to your wedding!" Jane hissed at her big brother.

"For God's sake, Jane! Snape at our wedding! This is supposed to be the happiest day of my life! You just _had _to ruin it!" James collapsed into a white folding chair near the end of the row. 

Jane sat down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. "Listen," she whispered. "If he makes a single noise that upsets you-"

"How about his breathing."

Jane ignored the comment and continued. "I will personally see to it that his mother disowns him, and Filch hangs him by his thumbs."

James grinned inwardly at the thought of the man he loathed so much being tortured at the hands of the man who relished in screaming.

"I believe that appeals to you, so I'll continue helping with your wedding." Jane stood up and continued to unfold chairs. 

James watched silently as people bustled around him. A woman in a pair of worn overalls was forcing the trellis into a stationary position. A few housewives, chefs, and caterers were arranging steaming soups, fragrant cookies, immense sliced turkey, and the piece de resistance, the cake. Five layers tall with little white columns in between each, it stood on a small platform on the ground. It smelled and looked irresistible. Near twelve tables were to the side, set and ready for dining. An expensive glass of champagne and a floral arrangement (some made of pink carnations and even pinker roses, some made of daisies, daffodils, papyrus and eucalyptus leaves, and goldenrod, and the grandest on the main table was constructed with gerbera, lilies, irises, tulips, hydrangeas, daisies, daylilies, and endless supplies of dried foliage) stood in the middle of all but one, which was reserved for the children. Three men and one woman with ladders were stringing twinkling Christmas lights and folds of white fishing net between and on top of the trees. 'It all fits,' thought James. 'Lily's the perfect arranger.'

He was jolted back to life by a rude awakening of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," on the electric piano set at the organ. 

James moved forward to the front where the pastor was gesturing for him. Just as he stepped forward, the "organ" player started on a march that made butterflies awaken in his stomach. A black limousine pulled to the curb and the maid of honor, Melanie stepped out. Sirius took her arm and they walked down the aisle. The best man stood by James; the maid of honor where Lily would be. It was a procession from there. Remus with Cleo Patricks, and Peter with Jane. 

Then the true march started.

The limousine door closest to the curb swung open. 

Lily got out. 

The butterflies died abruptly. Lily was so drop-dead gorgeous. With her hair in a net, her slim neck was wonderfully portrayed. The bouquet in her hands was made of the roses that grew by Mrs. Whitaker's houses with sprays of baby's breath on the edges and one large, enormous, pure white lily dead center. James could _feel _the warmth of Remus' smile behind him. Clearly the floral masterpiece was (again) his work. Her green eyes twinkled with true love and even her feet looked adorable in nearly-flat shoes. James tilted his head to the side to smile. 

Lily was nervous, but when her feet began marching towards the man with scraggly hair and fancy attire, she knew that this was destiny. It was fate, that they should be brought together. She knew it. 

It seemed all too soon when he was beside her, losing himself in her bright green eyes. 

It seemed all too soon when she was standing next to him, gazing into his dark hazel eyes. 

The ceremony was short, as it was planned to be. The pastor looked up from his platform. "Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter wished to write their own vows."

James broke their eyes' hold first as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Remus had helped him to write it, since Peter was no good at fancy words and Sirius would write something stupid. 

"Lily," he began with a sigh. "I met you on September first, twelve years ago. I asked you out for the first time on December tenth with a good bit of persuading from Sirius. I proposed to you on November twenty-seventh, again with a good bit of persuasion from Sirius. And I'm marrying you on July twenty-sixth. This time, I don't need persuasion to know that I'm doing the right thing. It's here in my heart, telling me to keep going. 

"I don't really think marriage is a step. It's more of an official occurrence that goes down on paper. That bond's already between us. We just put the rings on each other's fingers to let everyone else know that we have that bond. So, with this ring (James's nephew handed him Lily's ring), I thee wed. To have, to hold, and… well… to love."

Lily stopped for a moment in time to admire the ring. Two bands twisted together, one silver, one gold. A single emerald and topaz gem were set next to each other with a ruby and diamond between. She looked up and smiled at James. 

Lily pulled a small piece of folded paper from underneath one of the petals of the lily. Her hands unfolded it several times. James was shocked at its length _and_ width. He was going to look stupid on his wedding day, like he didn't commit himself. God knew he had spent hours on that three minute speech, going over it several times, crossing things out, changing words and phrases…

Lily cleared her throat. Now would not be the time to be cracking her voice as if she were a fifteen-year-old boy. Or belching, for that matter. 

"James…" she started. She looked at him, his eyes filled with silent laughter. She felt like a big, overgrown mother. In a gesture to James, to love overall, and to her current thoughts, she crumpled up the speech she had worked so hard on and tossed it over her shoulder. 

"Mr. James Potter, I love you. I love you, I do. I don't know if I'm allowed to use that phrase just yet, but I don't care. Perhaps I may sound childish and stupid, but won't it be more fun that way? James, I've loved you since that first day I saw you. That day on the train, when I dropped my trunk on your arm (I still don't know how I managed to do _that_). You screamed out loud, and I laughed. It sounds mean, but that fake look of hurt on your face was so… well… adorable. And when you started that high, squeaky, comic crying, and I kissed your "boo-boo," I shuddered. Maybe you didn't notice it, but I swear that a cool breeze swept through the closed window and played with your hair. And I knew. I knew that our fate was connected. And maybe we will have an effect on destiny."

Lily lowered her eyes in shame. "That sounds silly, doesn't it? And maybe it is, but James, I know for a fact that I love you. Maybe that's a word that doesn't have meaning anymore, since so many teenagers have used it, but like you said, it's here, in the heart. And nothing, neither time nor age nor fights we may have could possibly ruin that. Ever." Lily threw her arms around James's neck and hugged him close after the ring was on James's finger.

The pastor coughed unusually loud, and Lily let go, blushing to the tips of her red hair. 

"Just hang with me for a moment longer you two, and I'll finish the job." The people laughed, and the reverend smiled.

"Do you, James Potter, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" 

"I do."

"And do you, Lily Evans, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then, by the power invested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife." He stopped and smiled. "You may kiss the bride."

James couldn't have thought of lovelier words. He wrapped his arms around her, and hers fell around his neck. He dug in, her mouth open and waiting. Their first truly married kiss. 

Lily felt a cool breeze float out of the tree branches. She sensed it mingling with her fingers in James's black hair. 

Their lips clung together as they pulled apart. 

Sirius rushed from behind and grabbed his best friend by the stomach. "He's married! He's married! My best friend is married!" he sang.

James laughed out loud as people walked forward to congratulate them. "Put me down, you idiot! We still have pictures before we can burn the suit!" Lily opened her mouth to protest, but James caught his mistake and fixed it before she could start her fake tears. "Lils, sweetheart, burn is new slang for us. It means save until the house burns down." 

"That's very reassuring, Mr. Husband Whom I Just Married. Come on, we need to get pictures for the photo albums and stuff."

Sirius dropped him like a hot potato and strode towards the camera. 

James joined his bride in the center with their friends spread out like a fan behind them. Next were all their Hogwarts friends, then only James and the groomsman, then Lily and her bridesmaids. Lily and James had a few singular shots, and several together. 

"Goofy picture!" someone cried (it was either Sirius or a child; no one ever found out), and the photographer smiled. Every single person involved in the activities but The Cameraman was there, pulling faces, making bunny ears, wearing bunny ears, crossing their eyes, and making large guffawing noises that made others crack up. James and Lily were back to back, with two pretend smoke guns and secretive looks on their faces. It was nice to escape from the formality, even if everyone but Severus Snape was grinning. 

The camera clicked several times, then the cameraman dismissed them to the reception. 

The buffet table was gorgeous, with various spacing of scentless flowers called dahlias and foliage of all colors in the center. Delicious barbecued turkeys, deviled eggs, potato salad, bubbling soups, casseroles, rolls, salads, parfaits, fruit cups, pies, cookies, eclairs, everything that tasted good was there. 

Everyone had food and was eating merrily when Sirius stood up and raised his champagne glass. Amid the silence, he cried, "A toast!" All of the Potters' friends clapped and cheered. 

"Okay, you two got your speeches about each other (the crowd laughed). Now it's my turn.

"Lily, ye of red hair and sparkling green eyes, thou art thine fairest maiden in the kingdom. When you caused my best friend to cry September first, nineteen… well, I won't give a too specific date, but I know it was September first. Anyway, he later confided in me that he thought you were very pretty. I laughed at him, since I had never found him with feelings for a girl before. Two years later, he liked you. Two more years and he really liked you. One year added, and he really _really_ liked you. On our graduation day, he told me he thought he was in love you. God knows how many times I caught him staring off in space. God knows how many times I stayed up late and heard him quoting Romeo & Juliet in an altered version entitled Jamesero & Liliet." James buried his head in his hands. "He's gonna kill me now, but let me say this first…" James's fingers moved away from his ears. "You two are gonna be happy. You're gonna love each other (and in a lower voice) and maybe express that love as soon as you get to the honeymoon suite." He raised his glass, and his voice raised back to its booming level. "To James and Lily, Shakespeare, and the promise that if I'm not their kids' Godfather, I won't be happy." He put the glass to his lips and threw it back into his throat. Everyone followed suit, even the kids (they were allowed sparkling white grape juice). 

Lily and James smiled lovingly at one another as their champagne glasses clinked against one another, and they sipped gingerly. 

A/N: Thanks SO much for the previous reviews! I actually feel special!! Let's shoot for thirty!! 


	3. No More Chances

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah… Don't sue me! Blah, blah, blah…  
  
Lasting A Lifetime  
  
Chapter Three:  
  
A Blackbird  
  
"A bird came down the walk-  
  
He did not know I saw;  
  
He bit an angleworm in halves  
  
And ate the fellow, raw. -"  
  
Emily Dickinson  
  
Severus Snape pulled his black cloak tighter around him as the chilly night wind beat against him. A solid ring of skull-masks smirked as the twenty- three-year-old rookie shivered in the cold.  
  
"Is the little Potion Master scared?" Lucius Malfoy spat. His grey eyes flashed with laughter.  
  
Severus gritted his teeth and clutched his wand more firmly in his left hand. They were all a bunch of stupid prats, he reminded himself. Nothing to worry about. Let the Master deal with them. The truly faithful would be rewarded, and they were certainly not as faithful as he…  
  
The laughter of Malfoy and his cronies was smothered as fellow Death Eaters moved aside to let the Dark Lord enter the ring. "My faithful servants," he hissed quietly. Only the crackling of the burning barn with four dead bodies inside competed for an audience. "There is a band of imbeciles rising up against us. The old Muggle-loving fool they call Dumbledore leads them. Their emblem is a rose." He waved his wand in several graceful, horrifying curves, and white and green stars flew from the tip to create a beautiful stained-glass image of a pure white rose. He turned his back on it, and then as it began to grow brighter and brighter, he swung around and smashed it with his small fist. The pieces fell to the ground in shatters, losing their bright hue and soft glow.  
  
"We must crush this organization! No Auror must be left alive, no follower untortured! Every single mother's son of them!"  
  
As Voldemort uncurled his spindly fingers away from his palm, many exclaimed to see the long, green fingernails reveal a fair piece of glass lodged in his palm. Each blood-red drop of the venomous liquid that filled his veins flew back inside the cut, and the glass soared away from the skin and onto a cement block by his feet. He raised his leathered boot and crushed the milky white glass into thousands of shards.  
  
"They should not be much trouble."  
  
He raised his head slowly up from his boot and grinned, revealing nasty, yellow teeth. "Half of you will receive a name, a name of either a single follower or a pair of them. I want to be able to read your minds and still hear the screaming. The other half will continue to carry on our normal work, moving twice as fast so as not to reveal our decreased numbers.  
  
"I will not move each of you to the person you could easily access. Your enemies would know your weaknesses, putting all of you at a disadvantage. I will connect you remotely, and I may change you if your assignment proves too difficult."  
  
The Dark Lord began hissing and spitting madly, and a long, fearful snake crawled towards him.  
  
Snape noticed someone shivering violently eleven cloaks down. He smiled cruelly underneath his mask… that would be the rat…  
  
It raised itself up, and its tongue slid in and out between its fangs. It was reporting something, something the Master didn't like…  
  
Turning his face away from the snake, Voldemort glared at his trembling servant.  
  
"Wormtail? Why did you not inform me of the Potter's wedding? You as well," he uttered at Snape. Snape's backbone melted… he didn't want to look stupid…  
  
"Perhaps you believed I had already known?"  
  
"Ye-Ye-Yes, Master… I-I-I th-thought you would kno-know by n-n-now…" Voldemort spat on the ground in disgust.  
  
"And you?"  
  
Snape tried to make his voice sound solid, but he failed miserably. "I believed Wormtail would have told you first, my Lord… he would have known long before the occurrence and my presence was made known there…"  
  
Voldemort lazily removed his eyes away from Snape, and he felt himself breathe again. Too bad about Wormtail, though… he would have to defend himself. There could be no alliances admidst the ring in Snape's opinion.  
  
"Apparently he feels no pity for you, Wormtail… Crucio!"  
  
Wormtail crumpled and began to scream in immense pain. Every slouched back straightened as Voldemort released his concentration from the sobbing mass of robes.  
  
"Remember what happens when you don't tell your master things of importance from now on, all of you."  
  
"Come, Nagini. We have business elsewhere." Voldemort stalked out of the ring of his Death Eaters.  
  
It was impossible to Apparate or Disapparate from inside a ring of Death Eaters; deep magic had been cast, held tight by mental bonding, to make any surrounded prisoner incapable of escape. Many Aurors had gone insane before the Killing Curse had been issued, seeing so many looming Death Eaters in one area, surrounding, menacing…  
  
Snape was the last to Apparate away from the scene. His cold dark eyes glistened suspiciously in the light of the now collapsing barn… He had loved playing in that rope swing that had hung from the highest loft in rare moments of happiness… too bad his three-year-old cousin had been killed, screaming, before she could have such memories…  
  
  
  
A/N: I'm done! Kinda short, huh? But what d'y'all (figure that out if you can) think about the idea that Death Eaters took revenge on their families first, then moved on to others'?  
  
To have some say on my upcoming chapters here, please go to my ID page and check out what I'm offering. PLEASE!  
  
I'm hoping for thirty-five reviews, seeing as how my previous goal didn't quite work out... 


	4. Why Do You Cry?

Disclaimer: It's only a matter of brains. If I'm writing this, it means I have no life. If I have no life, I have nothing worth suing me for. So don't even bother. You'll just end up buying yourself an overexpensive lawyer and not getting shit out of the entire thing.

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Four:

Red Tips Curl

"What greater delight is there 

than to behold the earth appareled 

with plants, as with a robe of 

embroidered work… -"

GERALD'S **HERBALL **(1597)

Remus wiped the salty sweat from his brow as he shook his fist at the sun for shining too brightly. 'How dare he?' he thought. 'Shining too intensely on things as helpless as flowers… but they certainly seem to relish in it…' Remus returned to the earthen level to tap the Japanese Beetles into the bucket of soapy water. "Make sure you get a hotel when you get to Parasite Hell," he sneered at two mating beetles as they drowned in the midst of the suds. 

"Still talking to the bugs, Remus?" Sirius asked. He turned a page of the _Daily Prophet_ and began to scan the obituaries. A glass of homemade lemonade rested on the arm of one of the four wooden lawn-chairs; he picked it up and gingerly sipped it. 

"Quit playing the interested aristocrat and help me kill these God damned bugs."

Sirius groaned and folded his paper. "I'm not paying and housing you just for you to have _me_ maintain my own family's garden, but I guess having this important lineage has its price…"

"Sirius, stop pretending you don't enjoy watching them squirm around in the water," Remus laughed.

Sirius just beamed in reply and began to flip the leaves on their sides. The leaves were cleared soon, and Remus pointed at the blooming flowers. "A 'Perle Des Jardins' has those petal formations where you have to look around carefully. Don't miss anything, or they'll regenerate."

Sirius moaned. "Couldn't you just give me a pair of gloves and make me weed something?" Remus shook his head.

"I weeded all the beds last week. The only thing I didn't finish was the holly bushes, and I don't think you'll like crawling between thorny leaves to pull out those wild onions. Here," he said, setting down his bucket to pick up a new one, "go de-beetle the 'Lichterloh'; its petals are a lot easier to look under." Sirius gladly changed flowers, leaving his gardener with the more difficult one. 

~

James grunted as he tried to hold the large presents for their friends in his arms. "Are you sure that our car can hold this weight capacity?"

Lily smirked and said, "Well, if it is too heavy, we can eliminate half the problem by making you get out and run along side."

"_Ha, ha, ha_." Lily laughed and kissed him on the cheek, making them burn with embarrassment.

The first place they left for was their home, but not to stay. They merely deposited their suitcases at the foot of the staircase and returned to the open road. 

Lily read the latest edition of _The Daily Prophet _on the drive to the Black Estate, for they had forbidden themselves to read too many newspapers. "What else is a holiday for?" they had laughed off. 

"Oh, James… the Wilckinsons…" James took Lily's right hand with his left and squeezed it for condolence. The rest of the trip was silent, for both James and Lily were silently remembering the smiling faces of the two Ravenclaws that had attended their wedding only two weeks earlier. 

As they drove up to the wrought iron gates, James entered the four-digit code (2931), and drove through. Lily "oohd" and "aahd" just the same as she had before at the tall brick walls framed by the red, miniature climbing roses. The driveway was even more fantastic, with tall, pruned Sugar Maples pointing you towards the grand beige castle with rusting iron spires at the peaks. Stained-glass windows littered the sides with portrayals of twilight stars, spring magnolias, autumn leaves, and only the tower Remus was locked in during the full moon was pane-less. 

The gravel drive circled in front of the door. James stopped the car and walked to the door. Lily stayed in the car, for Sirius was not always inside. James knocked on the door, and spoke to the Butler briefly. He came back, and he told Lily, "Remus went out to tend to the roses, and Sirius went with him. They might be gone awhile, since Remus intended to take care of the Japanese Beetle problem they've been having."

"Let's go look for them then," she replied simply and stepped out of the car. 

Leaving the souvenirs behind them, they set out for the rose garden holding hands. 

The archaic rose garden in the Black Estate was immense and constantly receiving additions. Paths wound through the many beds with benches and arches located at the perfect scenic spots. Sirius had thought about raising a few extra pounds by inviting tourists to his garden, but Remus had firmly forbidden it. He had claimed that flowers had scientifically been proven to respond poorly to camera flashes and tourists. They required love, not curiosity. Sirius complied when Remus threatened with resignation if he turned the ancient gardens into a tourist park. 

Lily and James moved slowly through the garden. Lily didn't mind; she liked to gaze at the flowers. But even if James was interested, he wouldn't have been able to see anything. A two-foot plant was grasping at his face, and he didn't like it. Lily laughed quietly as he cursed the dark-green foliage. "God damned New Zealanders! Why'd they have to go and breed some stupid pink rose?"

"Why James, _darling_, you know you were the one to spot it first! I was too busy marveling that overpriced 'Rise 'N' Shine' to have noticed that beautiful cheap blossom." The volume of his language was lowered, but the words received a dramatic increase. Lily laughed lightly and scanned the horizon for signs of her friends. She heard a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream rise from several hedges over. 

Lily dropped her bag of gifts and aimed her wand at the high hedges. "_Infraro Octulas_!" she cried. Flame sprang from the tip of her wand to form a gigantic ring she could see through to the side where the bushes stopped. Remus and Sirius were both peering fearfully from the sides of the gigantic hole. They stepped into full view when they saw only Lily, her green eyes glinting dangerously. It was better to fully show yourself to her rather than let her wand find you. 

Lily's arm relaxed. It wasn't… well, it wasn't who she feared it was. James had missed the whole thing, thankfully. Bless that confounded rose. She didn't like him seeing her when she was angry. She felt different, and she was sure she was ugly when she was angry. It was such a nasty feeling; there was no way it couldn't _not_ corrupt both the interior and the exterior of her body. 

"Lily?" Sirius whimpered. "You okay?"

Lily smiled. "Who screamed?" 

Sirius blushed. "I hit a bug, and it exploded." Remus grinned, and Lily arched an eyebrow.

"That was it? That was the reason I blasted six bushes with very hot flame? Because you flicked a bug, and it exploded?"

Sirius bowed his head and grinned at the green turf.

"Well, if you're gifts are broken, it's not my fault."

Sirius grinned and let a firework loose. "Did d'ya get me one of those T-shirts that say, 'I Love Paris,' on them?"

"No. Sorry. That's my nightshirt," James mumbled through a thicket of leaves. Remus gave a cry of delight and burst through the bushes to help him. Lily picked up her dropped bag, grimacing when she heard the tinkling of broken glass. 

"_Reparo_," she whispered. The bag changed shape slightly and felt less balanced. She stepped over the remains of six bushes with both hands full, smiling at Sirius who was trembling with humiliation. 

When they had all settled down, Lily passed out the gifts: three and the rose bush for Remus, five for Sirius, and three for Peter. Lily and James had also bought each other a gift to open back home. 

Sirius tore into his gifts first. Lily had bought him a camera, a pastry cookbook, and a small Eiffel tower that collapsed when he pressed a button. "Made me think of you, and your lack to have a girlfriend," she giggled. Sirius just mumbled something and tore into James's. The long, slender package was a small broom. 

"Brand new," he stated proudly. "The French found a way to compact the normal broom. It's a little slower than others are, but it's a lot easier to carry around. I've got one of my own, and they're not bad." Sirius shrugged, opened his other, and refused to let Lily see it, though Remus certainly got a kick out of it. Lily was extremely ticked, but she smiled when Remus started fiddling with his wrapping paper.

"Go on, Remus. Open it." Remus just twirled the ribbon around his finger and smiled faintly, as if remembering something. 

"I'll just open it tonight. I don't really feel like it now."

"Oh, c'mon Remus. Lily put some thinking into your gift, and I suggest you accept that rare feat in front of her." Lily smacked her husband over the head for his joke.

Remus shrugged and agreed. As the golden wrapping paper crumbled away, a black leather-bound book sat in his lap. 

"Black Creatures of the Deep," he whispered. The frail gold letters glittered against the sunlight, and as they fell into his eyes, Lily saw something stir. It was strange to see, and as quickly as it had appeared, it had gone. 

"Lily, what did you want me to do with this?" he asked politely. 

"I just thought you might want to read up on them. I mean, you're good with creatures, aren't you?" Lily could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. Only Remus could make her blush. 

"But on 'Black Creatures of the Deep'? Don't you think that's a little coincidental?"

"I-I-I'm sorry, Remus. I'll get you something else, if you want…"

"No," he mumbled, flipping through the pages absent-mindedly. "I'll hang on to it. It might come in handy some day." Remus snapped the book shut and plastered a fake smile on his face. 

"Okay, okay. Enough solemnity guys. Remus, you still have to open your other two gifts. Go on," Sirius stumbled feebly, trying desperately to change to mood. 

Remus carefully unwrapped the purple boxes and held up two things to let the sun gleam on them openly: a ring set with a black pearl, and a large glass ball. "What the hell are these?" Remus mumbled.

"The black pearl thing-ee is a genuine mood ring, not one of those cheap imitations. You don't even have to wear it; you can just hang it around your neck, and it'll detect your emotions. Some people even hear theirs talking to them, trying to make conversation when your emotion interests them. 

"The other thing is something I found in a garden shop. You can take a leaf, press it against the side, and it'll show you if the plant's healthy or not. It's a kind of mood ring. Green means healthy, red means sick, and brown mean dying. There's a few others, like unhappiness or something. I figured it'd come in handy when you're buying all your flowers."

Remus smiled and put them carefully back in the box. "What about Peter's?" 

"We tried to bring him along, but he wasn't home. We'll just check when we drive back, and if he's still not there, we'll leave it in the mailbox," James shrugged. 

"Look at the time, James! Sorry Sirius, Remus, we have to go. Come on, James."

They stood up, grabbed their things, and quickly backed away. 

Sirius turned on Remus when they were out of sight and earshot. "God, Moony! Could you have hurt her feelings any more?"

"What?!" Remus cried. "I didn't do anything!"

"She meant that book as something precious, and you treated her like she didn't know any better!" His fists were clenching at the side of his chair, and Remus was sure that if he were a dog, he would be snarling.

"She should've! Listen, I don't want to talk about it." He rose to leave, but Sirius towered above him, shoving him back down into his chair. 

"You'll listen to me! I don't give a damn whether you talk or not, but you'll listen!" Remus stared, aghast at his friend. "Did you see her eyes? She was about to cry! No wonder you never have a girlfriend, Moony. You can't even be nice to them when they try to be your friend." 

Remus put his head in his hands. "You're right," he mumbled. "Sorry."

"Don't tell me that. Tell Lily." Sirius said, his voice smoothed and calm. Remus looked up at him, and his eyes were sort of sad.

Remus grinned mischievously. "Damn it, Padfoot."

"What?" 

"Your wisdom is showing."

"Ack! Where?!" Sirius tried to cover his body, but didn't quite succeed, and toppled over. 

Remus laughed and strode towards the castle.

~

"Lily, he didn't mean it," James argued. 

Lily didn't pay attention. She just nestled her head farther into the space between the door and the seat, trying to hide her tears and sniffles. 

James sighed. A good cry would help her. Better than he could, at any rate. He tried to focus on the road ahead, but completely forgot to turn on the street where Peter lived. He pulled into the driveway as the sun was beginning to set. Lily had fallen asleep in her corner. He lifted her out of the car and carried her back to the house. "_Wingardium Leviosa_," he whispered once they were inside the barriers of the house. Her body floated by his side, her red hair tumbling down to barely brush the floor. Her robes were straining to the ground, and James tried not to stare at her as he arranged the two couches to press together. He didn't quite feel like sleeping in the bed that night. 

He levitated her onto the couch, setting her down gently with his wand. He tucked her under the blankets, and climbed in himself. 

She looked so blissfully peaceful. Small crusts had formed at the corners of her eyes and down the riverbeds in her cheeks. He gently rubbed them away. Sleep covered him as he gazed at her, long eyelashes fluttering, full red lips curling in sleep, and steady breathing flowing from her perfect nose. He fell asleep wondering how he deserved her.

A/N: Thanks, all you wonderful fans!! I feel so… well, important! Did you like this chapter? What do you want to see? I have my ideas still floating around, but I know I want some depression on Lily's part, and I have a twist in mind for the end, as I've said before. Also, I want to add more Severus, but I'm not sure how. 

BTW - I didn't intend on any Remus/Sirius shipping, so don't comment on it. I hate slash. I meant it as a friend pointing at another friend and basically smacking him upside the head. 

My review goal is 45! That's only 10 more, people! We can do it!


	5. Star-Gazing

Disclaimer: I'm just not going to bother writing a long one. I don't own Harry Potter. Joanne Kathleen Rowling does. Hence the website, www.FANFICTION.net …

A/N: Hello! This one doesn't have a lot going on, but it gets me in the swing of things back in England. And hopefully you'll figure out where Lily's going…

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Five:

Hints of Rouge

"Rose, 

O pure contradiction of desire; 

to be nobody's sleep 

amongst so many eyelids.-" 

Rilke

Lily woke up and stretched. James was still asleep. Good. She could make a decent breakfast this morning. 

Tiptoeing quietly into the kitchen, she opened the icebox as silently as she could. Eggs, cheese, milk, a can of biscuits, ham, hash-browns… She extracted every breakfast food she could think of. She pointed her wand at the kettle, and the burner started, glowing a fiery red. She reached up and grabbed two tea mugs from the shelf where they hung and draped cinnamon tea bags inside them. 

Turning back to the oven, she cracked six eggs into a pan and sprinkled cheese on top so it would melt in. Back to the counter. With a flick of her wand, the ham sliced part of itself up neatly and chopped the other part in bite-size pieces to be added to the eggs later. Lily drizzled honey on the slices and levitated them into a skillet that joined the kettle and pan. Popping the biscuit can open with a spoon ("These things are defective."), she laid the biscuits evenly on the pan and slid them inside the stove. Soon the hash browns joined them. Lily fell backwards onto the stools by the counter and flipped, not really looking, through the _Daily Prophet_. When the timer beeped, she whirled around on her stool and blasted the chick-shaped dial into mere dust, creating a sound louder than the chirping in the process. "Oops," she blushed, and heard James stirring.

Using a variety of levitation charms, she pulled the last bits together and laid them out on sunshine yellow plates. Just as the last mug of tea clinked down on the sanded wood breakfast table, she felt strong, loving arms wrap around her waist and a warm body press against her. His chin rested delicately on her shoulder. 'So this is what it's like to have a husband,' Lily thought, half intoxicated with the closeness of him. 

His toes were bathed in the warm sunlight as the stepped from the den into the kitchen. Lily was standing there, in her terry cloth lavender bathrobe, her red toenails winking on the checkered tile. Wavy red hair tumbled from her shoulders as her head slightly turned. He felt like a pauper before a queen! He was in nothing but a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt that said in smeared letters, "The Arrows Have Pincushioned Your Butts. Give It Up, Wasps." He stepped forward, his light feet soundless. Wrapping his arms around her unbelievably thin waist, he stooped to let his chin rest on her shoulder and allow his nose to breathe the smell of sugar, eggnog, and gingerbread. She was a holiday to him; she smelled, felt, and looked like it. 

"You made breakfast," he whispered.

"And I didn't burn anything either," she whispered back.

"That's good…"

"James?"

"What?"

"Why are we whispering?"

"Because this moment should last forever."

"Oh, okay then."

Lily slowly turned around to face him, and instead of seeing his chestnut brown eyes, she felt his firm, pink lips. She returned the force and love, then broke away, placing her fingertip where her lips had been a moment before. "Let's eat first."

James grinned. "Fine."

It was actually quite good, but James would never admit that Lily could cook in a million years. 

"What'd you do, Lils? Have someone else cook it, knock them unconscious, hide them in the closet, and take the credit?" 'Just enough sarcasm to let her know what I think, he told himself.

"Shut-up, Mr. Potter."

James turned his mistake to his advantage. Getting up from the table, he began to look in the cupboards, and he pretended to find body parts as he went. "Ooh, look! Here's the head! And there's the left hand…"

"James. Your eggs are cold."

"Nonsense. They're warm. I've already had some."

"They are now. _Congealiate_!" she exclaimed, and blue snowflakes shot from the tip of her wand and coated the cheesy eggs with ice. 

"Hey!" James whined. "You're not supposed to do that!"

"Who says so?" Lily said mockingly and heard a hint of amusement creep in. 

"They do."

"Good reason, macho man."

"Shut-up, Mrs. Potter." James slumped back to the seat. Instead of trying to defrost the eggs (one of Lily's freezing charms could take months to ware off), he picked up a biscuit and spread butter on the top. 

It was a nice breakfast nearly as delightful as the French breakfast they had shared at the top of the Eiffel tower. The only difference was that, this time, they weren't staring at the scenery, but each other.

James was trying to imagine growing old with Lily. In his mind, he saw Lily in the hospital several times. The first was a boy, the next was a pair of identical twin girls, and finally, another boy. He imagined letters from Hogwarts, begging for help in Astronomy, pleading for them to take them away from Peeves, and updates on the new tricks the twin girls had pulled. Then he saw the children in Muggle College, getting important jobs at the Ministry, having children of their own. He saw Lily and James going to Euro Disney, spoiling their grandchildren with large, blue, plush wizard hats with Mickey ears poking out of the sides. Old wrinkly hands grabbed onto each other and ageless eyes explored the depths of the others with compassion locked between…

"James! Earth to James! Come back, James!"

James shook his head. "Sorry. Broke off for a moment, there. What were you saying?" He noticed Lily had cleared the talbe and had changed into a white blouse with thin red lines bleeding down the front and a pair of blue Jean bellbottoms. A white pair of platform shoes exposed her petite pedicure of red toenails.

Lily rubbed her temples and her eyes turned towards the ceiling. "I said I was going out for a little bit, did you need anything?"

"Not anything I can think of now. And do you really think it's a good idea, going out a lot now, since You-Know-Who's rising?"

Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "Remember what Dumbledore said: we have to start using his name. No more of this You-Know-Who business. And don't worry about me, my Jamesero (James blushed a bright crimson)! You-Know… I mean, _Voldemort_ won't be looking for me where I'm going."

"Just be careful, that's all I'm saying," James said defensively, a rare tone of serious quality controlling his face. Lily almost wanted to laugh, but knew it would hurt his feelings to mock him. 

"I hear you, Master Potter. I'll be back in about three hours."

Just as Lily was about to walk out the door, James called out after her, "Lils! Wait!" She turned, her bright green eyes glittering questioningly. 

"Hm?" 

"Wear these, please?" He spun his wand around in a wide circle, and from the tip, a white fabric dripped and it formed a beautiful, wide white hat with a red ribbon on the brim. James pulled a sprig of baby's breath and dandelions from the nearby jar and tucked them on the side. Lily smiled and kindly took it. He handed her a pair of mirror sunglasses as well. "Your eyes stand out like Muslims in a synagogue," he grinned. 

Lily positioned the hat on her head, slid the sunglasses up her nose, and grinned broadly. "So how do I look?"

"Like your trying to be Audrey Hepburn," James laughed, and straightened the hat to fit the way he had imagined it. 

With the click of the door, James bolted and chained it shut. 'Am I shutting myself in or am I locking Voldemort?' he wondered before going upstairs to work on his research for the Ministry. It was concerning something stupid, like cauldron-bottom thickness, and he could never find anything to specifically write about. (It turned out that he wasn't the one who finished it, but a young man named Percy Weasley.) Oh well. You had to start with the small jobs when you worked for the Ministry of Magic… 

A/N: Wow, was that a rush!! I finished a chapter in practically one night!! Geez…

About thank-yous, I've decided that when I'm completely and totally done, I'll write this really BIG thank-you chapter and post it. But if you ask for updates, you'll get your thank-you a lot sooner!! Be sure to include your e-mail in your review if you want them, though!

I'm wishing for 60 reviews!! That's only 16 more! We can get there, people!! 


	6. Veritaserum

Disclaimer: I don't own H.P. Don't sue me. 

A/N: More Severus! I've decided to focus on him every three chapters, so you'll see him next in the ninth. Don't forget to review!

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Six:

Black Spot

"I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there was a little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not doubt that this was the black spot; and taking it up, I found written on the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: 'You have till ten tonight.' -"

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island.

Severus Snape sat at a large oak desk. It was nothing glamorous; he hated show-offs. Show-offs like James Potter, but that was another story… His desk had long green vines crawling, no!, creeping up the sides. Three drawers down the left side, four down the right, and one that sat over his lap bore tarnished brass handles, slightly stained with oil from his fingerprints and acids from more bitter potions. 

A single sheet of paper sat in front of him on the worn top. It was perfectly straight, a result of nervous fingers fidgeting with it. His back was slouched in the chair that would never sit still. His eyes were scanning it for the umpteenth time, but he still didn't feel the words hit home. There was something missing from his brain… shock. Shock, yes… that's what was missing. He didn't feel it. It was like when he was at Hogwarts, and Potter, Black, and Lupin weren't in class. The teachers seemed nicer, less stressed, but there was certainly a certain aura that left a hole. 

One of Voldemort's messenger snakes had given Severus his assignment. His victim. 'I'll be an actual murderer now,' he thought sadly. 'No more random killings for me. I'll actually be killing people by myself.' The thought wasn't very satisfying. It was downright disgusting. 

'You know, Severus, you disgusting bastard, it's all Lily Ev- no, Potter's fault. Maybe if she had liked me, I wouldn't have become a Death Eater.'

'But that's not true, it it?' a different, nastier, more truthful voice in the back of his brain droned. 'You would've become a Death Eater, even if she hadn't slapped you in front of the whole Hall. You wanted to be a Death Eater. You wanted to kill people. It's your own fault Severus Snape. You did this to yourself.'

Severus knew his conscience was right. He just didn't want it to be. 'All I did was ask her if she would attend the Halloween Ball with me. She didn't have to slap me so hard and spit on my shoes. She could've just said no.' 

'Not after you told her that James was a shitty, four-eyed prat. That's what broke her Hoover dam of anger.'

'Shut-up!'

It seemed like his live-in-your-mind Jiminy Cricket had actually taken his advice. After what seemed like an hour's silence he whispered, "What will I do about the Longbottoms?"

The easy way out lept to his mind. He could tell Voldemort he couldn't do it… yes, that would work… No. No, it wouldn't. He couldn't look weak! He couldn't back down on his first assignment! But he really didn't want to kill Frank Longbottom… He was so, well, ignorant. He were so absent-minded, he had occasionally helped him with his Charms homework, forgetting that he was a Slytherin until someone pointed out the crest on the front of his robes. Poor, foolish Frank Longbottom… But then he had blasted Severus against the heaviest shelf of books and the collapse of the case had nearly bashed his brains in. Poor, foolish, _dangerous_ Frank Longbottom.

Severus didn't even want to _start_ worrying about his wife either. Whereas she couldn't handle anything more important that "_Expelliarmus_," she was almost as intelligent as Severus himself, and that was really saying something. Where Frank lacked coordination, Creeda Longbottom could do a one-hand handstand, balance an umbrella on her nose, and juggle with her feet at the same time. Whereas Creeda lacked strength behind her spells, Frank could flatten a dog against the ceiling with a mere flick of his wand. Whereas Frank couldn't remember if poisoned porcupine quills came first or last in a potion of Horrifying Nightmares, Creeda could recite the twelve Japanese variations of Finger Fidges in less than a minute. And - unfortunately for Severus - one was never found without the other. 

A faint singing drifted up the stairs, and Severus couldn't resist a smile. He didn't bother to turn around; it was more fun to let her "sneak up" on him. 

Long pale fingers wrapped around his eyes, and a soft voice whispered in his ears, "Guess who?" 

Severus shrugged playfully and said, "Well… it's not Dumbledore…"

Musical laughter. She always had musical laughter…

"No, silly. It's me, Jane! Your girlfriend!"

"As if I didn't know." Her fingers unlaced from over his eyes, but her chin still sat on his shoulder. Her blue-black hair curled around her ear and fell gently down onto his shoulder. He lips began to trace delicate patterns of kisses on his cheeks. "Stop," he whispered, almost regretting his words. 

"Why? What's wrong?" she asked. There was a hint of worry creeping into the back of mind. She could hear it in her voice too. Couldn't he hear her heart race inside her chest? 

Severus turned around in his chair, took a deep breath, and wished that their relationship didn't have to change. "I have something to tell you. Something important, and you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone." His glittering black eyes seemed to pierce her skin and read her soul. 

Jane knew this was important and sat down in his lap. She held his arms firm around her waist. "Shoot," she said simply. 

With an aching heart, Severus began. "Well, Jane darling, I'm a Death Eater," he released in one rush. 

She sat there, stunned. Her jaw dropped, her hands fell away from his, and in her eyes kindled a small flame. 

"Excuse me," she whispered, soft and slow. "Did you say that you're a Death Eater?" 

"Yes." Now it was his turn for worry to creep into his voice.

"God damn it!" she screeched and aimed her wand at the nearest item: a table. It was blasted into thousands of tiny splinters, and as the dust settled, Severus saw Jane standing in the middle of the room, her chest heaving, her hair mussed. In her hand, she held a bottle of clear, glassy liquid. 

"Veritaserum, Severus. You of all people should know that."

"I do."

"I want to merely subject you to a few drops and see what you'll say to a few questions." Severus hesitated. "If you love me, you'll agree."

In response, Severus snatched the bottle from her unsuspecting hand, pulled out the stopper, and let three single drops drip into his mouth. In a single, jerky movement, his face became more impassive than ever. His back became rigid, his hand folded neatly in his lap, and his legs uncrossed themselves. He looked like a statue. 

"Just a little test run first. What is your name?" Jane asked. 

"Severus Sedulous Snape," came the emotionless reply.

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"Yes. I joined Voldemort's ring thirteen months ago. I had to pass a test that tried my loyalty, cunning, and cruelty, and I passed it."

"What was the test?"

"I had to kill my mother."

"Oh, Severus… If only I'd known…"

"I had to use all three Unforgivables. To test the strength of my wand. Her body writhed under the Cruciatus. Under the Imperius, I made her bow to Voldemort and plead for mercy, something she would never have done. Then I killed her. I vomited when all the other Death Eaters had left."

Wiping away her tears, Jane asked, "Would you have told Voldemort about me?"

"I had to tell him. So you wouldn't be killed by mistake. He already knows."

"Would you have killed me or James if he asked you to?"

"I would never kill you, but I would kill your brother if I had to."

Jane bit on her lip to stop a free stream of tears. With a quaking voice, she whispered, "Do you love me, Severus Snape?"

"With all my heart and soul." 

Jane broke down in sobs, unable to hold back her tears any longer. Without thinking, she cried, "Why'd you do it? Why? Why?"

"Because I wanted revenge."

Jane whipped her head around and with shaking fingers pointed her wand at the apathetic man. "_Ennervate_," she sobbed.

He blinked several times, and gasped as he saw her, crumpled on the grimy floor with her head in her hands. He clumsily crawled over to her. He wrapped his strong arms around her and rocked her back and forth, like a crying child who's had a nightmare.

If Voldemort had seen them, he would've been truly shocked. Severus was whispering to her that everything would be all right, he wouldn't let anything happen to her, that everything would work out. When she asked him how he knew that, he simply answered,

"Because all love stories end with 'Happily Ever After.'"

How very wrong he was.

A/N: Gasp! What will happen to them? Okay, so maybe it's really obvious, but I don't give. 

I'll probably have to hike up the rating on this, because cuss words will become necessary. Tell me if you mind or not.

Since, as far as I know, I only have somewhere around 46 reviews, my goal for now is 55. Thanks for all of your support so far!


	7. That Night in Paris

Disclaimer: I like this chapter. Don't make me remove it, or you will suffer the consequences!

A/N: see above.

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Seven:

A Touch of Silk

"As this blind rose, 

no more than a whim of dust

achieved her excellence without intent,

so man, the casual sport of time and lust

plans wealth and war, and loves by accident. -"

Humbert Wolfe

James was finished. He didn't want to do anymore research on cauldron-bottoms. He just didn't care if some stupid idiot built their fire too hot and ended up swelling their feet to the size of baby dolphins. "The burned foot teaches best," he mumbled to himself. 

Standing up, he casually scanned one of the seven bookcases for something interesting. "Here we go," he said. "_So You Want to Be an Auror. Just for a few reminder tips." Flipping to the last twenty or so pages (he had already memorized the first three hundred), he perused each word. Dumbledore had asked for his help nearly a week before the wedding, and James would be tested soon to be an Auror, like Lily was. _

Speaking of Lily, James couldn't figure out where she was. She had gone out, but she hadn't mentioned where. He had checked the calendar, and there wasn't anything there. No clue as to any appointment she might have made. James wished he knew where she had gone, but he knew that if Lily had wanted him to know, she would've told him. Oh well. 'Poor James is stuck in the dark, but yet again,' he thought to himself and turned back to his book. 

Actually, if he had really wanted to know, all he would've had to do was use the bathroom. But he didn't need to, and so only found out where his wife had been once she had made her return.

But that was a ways off, from what James could guess, and he didn't feel like wasting it. Going back downstairs to the kitchen, he heated up a kettle of tea, and pulled some leftover scones out of the refrigerator. Nestled down in on of the couches they had slept on the night before, he sipped his tea and nibbled on his scones while his eyes distractedly read the pages. 

Daylight slowly faded away from its noontime brightness, and the words grew harder to discern. James was forced to light a few lamps and lay a blanket over his feet. Finally, he lost interest in the text and lay huddled in the corner of a worn, olive green couch. "Where is she?" he wondered aloud. 

Almost as if to answer his question, the door creaked open. James sat up, clutching his wand tight in his right hand. Lily stumbled in with her sunglasses slipping off her nose, her hat askew, and several bags hanging off her arms. He scrambled off the couch to help her as she shouted for him. 

"I'm here!" he cried, and her head turned to him, a smile playing across her lips that made James wonder how God had let him marry an angel. In a quick gesture, he relieved her of several bags and set them on the ground. 

"Thanks," she mumbled as she tried to untangle her hair from the hat. James laughed and with a few simple finger twists, held the hat in his hand. "You annoy me," she laughed as James began to flex his muscles.

"Love you too, sweetheart," he said and kissed her. She returned the kiss as quickly and elegantly as she could. 

"James, you may want to sit down. I have something important to tell you." James playfully plopped down in the foyer and looked up at her expectantly. "Get up, goofy. This is serious." James stood up and, grinning, swept her off her feet and into the den. 

"Fine," she growled. Despite herself, she couldn't manage to suppress a smile. "I won't tell you 'til tomorrow."

"Oh, now that's not fair," James whined. 

"Too bad, Mr. Look-At-Me, I-Can-Lift-My-Spouse." Lily tweaked his nose like a parent scolding their child. 

"But Lils…"

"You'll just have to wait like the rest of your friends."

"But I'm your husband! I have certain, 'I can spill the secret first,' rights!"

"Go to bed, little mister, or you won't find out until…"

"Until what?" James asked, hoping blindly to catch her.

"Until. That's what." Lily grinned and blushed, and James dropped her in the chair with a thud.

"You're no fun," he grumbled. He slumped back to the foyer and gathered the remaining bags. 

"Where do you want me to put these?" 

"Oh, anywhere. I don't care." Lily snuggled down into the chair, and her eyelids fell shut. 

"So I take it purple elephants are invading Peru?" James mumbled casually a few minutes later. He wanted to look in those bags. As he tried to push aside the tissue paper, an electric shock zapped his hand. A letter floated to the top of the bag, and James cautiously picked it up. Finding no pain issue from the parchment, James slit it open with his wand. 

"Dearest James:

       I know you too well. If I say you'll wait, you'll wait. 

                          Yours,

                              Lily.

    P.S. - I discovered this handy little charm from the new apothecary assistant. I have a feeling we will become good friends."

"Damn," James whispered. No Marauder could beat Lily's charms, and well he knew it. "I don't wanna wait…" he griped as he stumbled up the stairs. 

~

Lily awoke to the sound of the Rolling Stones drifting through the house. Her back creaked as she fell out of the chair and onto the floor. "Damn, if I'm not even fully into it, and I can't even get out of a chair, my life's gonna be hell…"

"What was that all about?" James asked, a worried frown creasing on his face as he saw his wife clutching at the chair and trying to stand. He strode across the room to help her up, but she waved him away. 

"It's okay, baby. Just a little falling out of bed thing that I need to get used to." Lily straightened up, and smiled sadly. 

"James, darling, I have something important to tell you…"

"What?" he asked eagerly.

Lily gazed slowly around at the room, and decided that this wasn't it. "Not here," she said. "Not now. I'm going to take a shower and get changed first. Then we'll talk. Just get yourself a coffee or something."

James shrugged and started back to the kitchen. When Lily was no longer watching him, he came back and watched her struggle to climb the stairs. He prayed to God that she wasn't sick… His grandmother had died of cancer, and he remembered being so young that he didn't realize why grandma couldn't take a bath without Aunt Laura helping her. He hoped with all his heart that that wouldn't be his Lily…

~

Lily let the warm water wash over her… It felt so comforting, to let it stream down her body in little rivers… The conditioner in her red hair was sliding thickly down her back and legs. She felt cleansed, immortal, like the Lord had seen her in the cramped shower, in the tiny town of Deverton, in the speck of Great Britain, in the insignificant world.

Lily regretfully turned off the taps and stepped out of the showers. Unorthodoxly she wrapped a green towel around her hair and began patting herself down with another. She unfolded the towel that engulfed her hair and combed it out until it was sleek. With her wand, she made it spiral on top of her head loosely, creating a Hershey's Kiss effect. With her towel pressed to her chest, she leaned her head out of the bathroom to make sure James couldn't see her. She saw that the coast was clear, and quickly shuffled over to her walk-in closet. She let the towel fall as she searched the racks for her white silk dress with the little straps that did nothing to hold it up, you were just supposed to let a larger loop droop over one shoulder and the other was the right size to stay put. It showed off her figure perfectly, was _just transparent enough to capture James's attention, and made her feel graceful. Besides, she wouldn't be able to wear it again for a long time. _

~

James had slipped into his Invisibility Cloak moments later after Lily had left the staircase. He needed to make sure she didn't get hurt; he had seen her dry off and get dressed. It was really adorable to watch her check for him in the room and not know he was only a few feet behind her. 

The way she got dressed was so beautiful and innocent. She knew every fold in the dress and exactly where to place it. Lily smoothed it out over her belly particularly, and James noticed a slight increase in its size. 'I told her that eggs were cholesterol bombs,' he thought. She slipped into small red strap heels and cautiously began making her way down the staircase. Lily was so light on her feet, he didn't even hear the sensitive step creak, and James was sure that she hadn't skipped it. Quietly sweeping out of the room, he removed his cloak, stuffed it in his dresser, and pretended to come from the study when she started calling his name at the landing. 

"There you are," she teased. James could tell that she was trying to hide the weakness in her voice. He skipped down the steps noisily, and Lily grinned as she took his hand. 

She led him out the back door and towards the grey wooden bench in the northern corner of the rail-fenced yard. Two magnolias shaded its seat, and Lily had always admired the place. James preferred to describe it as, "You'll just have to see for yourself." The flowers blooming on it were creamy buttermilk and the bench itself had a deep and wide seat that rocked when one set it in the correct motion. It was here that Lily Potter sat down with her husband and kissed him.

For a few minutes, they sat with their lips locked, breaking only moments only to say how much they loved each other. Lily broke first. She pushed him back, saying, "James. I have something very… _crucial to tell you."_

"What is it?" James whispered, fearing the worst.

As a response, Lily merely took his hand and pressed it to her stomach. "I'm pregnant, darling." 

Whatever sickness James had been expecting, it wasn't this. His jaw dropped, and he blinked too many times in one second for it to be healthy. "B-b-but h-h-how?" he stammered.

"Oh, come on, James. We learned this in sex ed. First a boy meets a girl…"

"No, not that. I mean… h-h-how long?"

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe it was during Paris… It could've been that night where-"

"I-I-I know what yo-yo-you're talking about Lils." He paused for a moment, perhaps trying to figure out what to say. He merely pressed his lips to hers. In that one singular kiss, he silently expressed what ten thousand words could not have stated. He fed her his excitement, love, passion, joy, worry, sadness, youth, maturity, willingness, shame, fear, and other feelings that names haven't been created to falsely entitle. It was the second most romantic kiss of their life, and Lily could slightly feel a morning breeze softly stroke her shoulder and play with James's hair. 

With the sun rising over the tall treetops of the surrounding parks, his callused palm on her smooth cheek, that moment was frozen in time, in memory, in love, in truth, and even in the eyes of God, gazing pitiably at the two young people in love, with no hope for their future. 

A/N: Yippee! I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready! Or maybe I'm not… oh, wait! Yes I am! I know what I'll do next chapter. I almost want to write about Snape again (he's sooo cool!), but I set myself a rule. One more chapter before you can see him again.

    Also, my chapter review goal slowly built up, so I'm somewhere around 59. Please help me get to… oh, I'll say 70. Does that sound reasonable? So R/R! 


	8. Superman

Disclaimer: I said 'Disclaimer'. Need I say more?

I don't own the rights to Casablanca, Superman, or The Great Gatsby, either. 

A/N: I'm having a contest to see who can spot the Shakespeare quote. I _believe _it's from 'As You Like It,' but I might be mistaken. I have a stack of Shakespeare comedies by my elbow! I forgot to mark which one! So sue me! Wait! Don't! That would defeat the whole purpose of the Disclaimer! 

Lasting a Lifetime

Chapter Eight:

A Light Rain

"The rose-lipt girls are sleeping

In fields where roses fade. -" 

A. E. Housman

Lily guided herself with the picket fence along the walkway out to the car. Black-eyed Susans, dahlias, and other assorted wildflowers smiled their dappled faces up at her. Lily smiled faintly back and let her arm rest across her stomach. She felt so happy…

But her conscience nagged at her mind. '_You didn't tell him, Lily… You didn't tell him what the doctor said…_' The smile fell away from her face. She wouldn't tell James. It would only scare him, and he might demand an abortion. No. She wouldn't tell him that the doctor had warned her pregnancy would make her weak, very weak. She'd see if her current unsteadiness was weakness, or if her gynecologist was simply mistaken. 

She sat in the car, stroking her fake white tiger wrap, as James stepped out on the porch and locked the door behind him with both keys (one for doorknob, one for padlock) and a powerful locking charm. He turned towards the car, and paused as he caught sight of an elegant woman in the passenger seat. And his mind slapped him for not immediately thinking the lovely woman was Lily.

She wore her flowing, semi-curly hair up in a loose bun on the back of her head, with casual sprays escaping and rippling down her neck and onto her shoulders, which were exposed. Her tight red taffeta dress started three and a half inches below her collarbone and ended nine inches above her knee. Tan panty hose glided without a single run up her slender legs. Her faux white tiger wrap weaved in and out of her arms to create a strip of black and white over the small of her back, her arms, and down the sides of her waist. Black and white heels strapped around her tiny feet. Lily could have passed as on her way to a ball.

James slipped into the driver's seat beside her. "Where to, madam?" he said airily. 

"To the Black Estate, monsieur. I have an inexplicable appointment with the master and his sycophant."

"If I knew what I sycophant was, I'm sure I wouldn't like it." James looked at her an almost undetectable gleam in his eye.

"I'm just kidding. Remus is the best one out of all of you Marauders." Lily wasn't joking, either.

"Even me?" James asked in awe. 

"Even you."

"Then why did you marry me?" he asked, a shocked tone of disappointment creeping into his voice.

"Because I love you. You have just the right mixture of honesty, innocence, intelligence, stupidity, and mischief that I just can't resist." Lily placed her hand gently on his knee and smiled at him like a little girl coming home after a long trip to Grandma's; she'd enjoyed it at Grandma's, sure, but home was _home_. 

James merely shrugged and roared the engine into life. Lily took her hand away from his knee and put it in her lap. Most of the car ride was silent, as both of them were thinking inwardly about their future child.

~

Sirius threw The Great Gatsby across the floor and picked up a copy of Superman Comics. "Superman," he said to himself, "is _so _much more interesting than F. Scott Fitzgerald."

Remus laughed sleepily from the deep chasms of the chair to Sirius' right. 

"Laugh all you want, Moony. At least I'm reading."

"At the level of a eight-year-old, I might add."

"Shut-up," Sirius growled as his butler stepped to the door and opened his mouth to make an announcement. He snapped shut his jaw quickly. 

"Forgive me, sir. I will tell Mr. and Mr. Potter that they will have to come back another day."

Sirius lept out of the chair, and he quickly told the butler to ignore his earlier comment, it was not directed at him, tell the Potters to wait a minute in the Parlor Room, they'd join them momentarily, by the way, how were they dressed? Formal? Make it ten minutes. 

He turned back to Remus' chair with a big grin plastered and squinted eyes on his face. "See? Told you I was a good host-" A quick slam upstairs told him Remus was already planning on meeting James and Lily first. "Oh, no you don't!" he shouted and chased up the stairs after him. 

~

Lily couldn't sit for two reasons. One: she was too restless to appear patient. Two: if she sat, she wouldn't be able to spring back up when they walked in, and she didn't want to seem rude. So she paced back and forth while James leaned against the piano in the middle of the room. 

Lily paused mid-floor and looked at him with something of a smile on her face. "Hey, James?"

"Huh?" he replied, slightly off-guard.

"Do you remember 'As Time Goes By'?"

James grinned.

"How could I forget?"

He transfigured his sports jacket and khakis to a _very _formal tuxedo. Black silk pants and jacket fit smoothly over a brilliant white shirt. A red that matched Lily's dress bled on his bow tie and cummerbund. Ruby cufflinks glinted in the sunlight shining through the window. He perched on the piano stool and flapped out his tails behind him. 

His fingers brushed over the keys, long fingers creating a lilting melody that spread a lovely grin on Lily's face. His mouth opened and his deep bass voice molded words that brought back memories of a café in Casablanca.

"You must remember this,   
A kiss is just a kiss,   
A sigh is just a sigh.   
The fundamental things apply,   
As time goes by.   
  
And when two lovers woo,   
They still say, "I love you."   
On that you can rely.  
No matter what the future brings,   
As time goes by.   
  
Moonlight and love songs,   
Never out of date.   
Hearts full of passion,   
Jealousy and hate.   
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate.  
There's no one can deny.   
  
It's still the same old story.   
A fight for love and glory,   
A case of do or die.   
The world will always welcome lovers,   
As time goes by." 

He looked up at Lily, and James could almost see the Eiffel Tower flash through her memory. "Hey…" he whispered. Lily didn't respond. "Hey…" he repeated, slightly louder this time. Her eyes welled up with tears, and he stood up and took her hand in his, smoothing his fingers over her wedding band. 

"Oh, James…" she broke out in a sob. "There's something I need to tell you…"

Remus walked in and stopped at the sight of a tear gliding down Lily's cheek. "Hey! Lils, are you okay?" he choked. 

"Oh, yeah. A soft spot for Casablanca was always one of my faults…" she said hastily, wiping away her tears with the back of her hands. 

"The worst fault you have is to be in love," Remus whispered.

James looked up quickly at Remus with a question in his eyes. 'What was that?' he mouthed. Remus shrugged. 

Sirius saved Remus many questions by entering the room at that moment. Swinging a fancy cedar cane and walking with a bounce in his step, he said, "So what's the deal? You guys never turn up formal."

Lily blushed and James took her hand. "Well, we have some news."

"What is it?" Remus asked as he settled himself into one of the chairs in the room. Sirius just leaned against the wall. 

"Well…" Lily began, "I'm pregnant."

Sirius, who had been leaning on his cane, lost his balance and toppled to the floor. Remus merely flopped back into the chair, looking much like he had earlier in the library. 

"We think it was Paris… There was this one night -"

"Spare us the details, Lils, huh?" Sirius said while picking himself up off the floor. 

"Sorry."

"Don't punish yourself over it. It's between you two, and we'd like it to stay that way," Remus explained, grinning. For the first time, Lily actually noticed his smile. His teeth were sharp and arranged very strangely. Some of them had been worn very badly, while some looked brand new. They were all a dazzling white, almost as if he bleached them. But there was something sinister hidden _in_ those teeth. 

Remus realized she was staring at his mouth. Puzzled, he lowered his lips. "Lily?"

She shuddered and looked away. "Sorry."

Sirius screamed. "Will you stop saying that already? You don't have to be so damned sorry all the time!"

James looked at his watch, much like the one Dumbledore wore with all the stars and planets revolving around the edge. "Three days 'til the full moon…"

"So that's what it was…" Lily whispered. 

'She's clinging to my arm,' thought James. 'What was so terrifying about his mouth?'

"What was what?" asked Sirius.

"His teeth…"

"'A werewolf's body does not undergo sudden change directly under the full moon. At a minimum of four days before the actual occurrence, the body slowly changes, an adaption made to the pain. Fingers and toes shorten, as well as the nose; hair on the scalp becomes thicker but shorter, while hair on the legs and arms lengthens slightly; nails become thicker and more pointed; and the teeth sharpen…'" Remus recited.

"What the hell was that?" James asked, awestruck.

"One of the several passages about werewolves from that book Lils gave me. A better scientific read than most of the 'up-to-date' reports, if anything."

"Glad you liked it, Moony." Lily was blushing, James noticed.

Remus started at her use of his nickname. Normally it was only the Marauders who called him Moony. Lily had _never_ called him Moony. She had always thought Remus was sensitive about being a werewolf. She hated talking about it. 'People change,' Remus told himself. 'Lily included.'

"So who's the Godfather?" Sirius asked.

Lily and James looked at each other and broke into mischievous grins. 

James straightened his back and looped his fingers through his suspenders. "Sorry. Classified information and whatnot." 

"Noooooooo!" Sirius howled. He threw himself on the floor and began pounding his fists on the floor. A black shaggy dog quickly took his place, howling like it had been imprisoned for life. 

James laughed and led Lily out the door. Remus followed behind them. 

As Remus shut the front door behind them, Lily asked James, "Was that too harsh?"

"Naw, Lils. He was getting to the point where he was actually reading in the library."

"Batman?" James grinned expectantly.

"Nope. He memorized all those. He's moved on to Superman."

"Gasp! No! Not Superman!" Lily mocked. "Whatever shall we do?"

"Jump off a building and see if Padfoot thinks he can fly?" James suggested.

"Shut-up." Lily bopped him over the head with her purse.

"Well, Moony. Gotta go. We have to see if we can find Wormtail."

"See ya!"

"Bye." The car doors shut. Remus waved to them until they were out of sight.

~

"You know what, James?"

"What love?"

"I don't think Peter was very happy about it."

"He's just upset that he'll never have a girlfriend. Kind of pathetic, really…"

Lily frowned. "You guys are too mean to poor Peter. It's gonna come back to bite you, one of these days."

"Nonsense," James grinned cheekily. "He knows we're only joking."

"Whatever. Come on," she said with a yawn. "Let's go to bed. I'm tired."

James picked her up in his arms and took the stairs two at a time. Lily merely smiled warmly and cuddled closer in his arms. She felt so _safe_. Too bad it wouldn't last.

A/N: And, naturally, I leave y'all hanging. ;-) Anyway, Snape's next! Finally! My sinisterness is allowed to take over… MWA HA HA!! 

Okay… thanks everyone for reviewing! 

Thanks esp. to You-Know-Who, for uploading my new story, Time Is A Pretzel, for me. XOXO!

My review goal… humm… I gots 73 currently… I'll shoot for 85. Sound fair?

Go read my other stuff! Please!

And don't forget to check out my fave stories list!

And another thing (will I ever shut-up? NO!) - Remus's gift with flowers was inspired by "A Heart of Gold" by Anita Skeeter.


	9. You Look Lovely In The Firelight

Disclaimer: I don't own:

1 - Harry's Wondrous World.

2 - What I just called Harry Potter. It's a track title on the soundtrack.

3 - The idea of personal armor. I drew that from Irene Radford's Dragon Nimbus series. I recommend them. They're _very_ good. Obvious plots, but good.

4 - Trying to repair a hopelessly lost Mustang. That's from The Princess Diaries. I don't remember who wrote them. But the Disney adaptation was good.

5 - George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

6 - Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera.

7 - My mind. Rabid little Oompa Loompas fueled by sugar do.

A/N: Okay, I know I have no regards for fashion of the late seventies, but lets face it, do we want to relive their horrible taste? I _know _I don't want to.

I have a line here based on a scene in the recent Ocean's Eleven.

Brad Pitt: "You scared?"

Matt Damon: "You suicidal?"

Pitt: "Only in the mornings."

Lasting A Lifetime

Chapter Nine:

Crown Gall-a

"Past the point of no return.

No looking back now!

The games we've played 'til now

Are at an end.

What raging fire shall flood the soul?

What rich desire unlocks its door?

What sweet seduction lies before us? -"

Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Phantom of the Opera

Severus sipped on his special coffee. It burned his tongue. He stood up out of his white wicker chair and strode to the icebox. His large hands gathered three ice cubes into his palm, and they clinked into his porcelain cup with the snake for a handle.

He felt something leap into his lap. His ears acknowledged Jane outside somewhere, humming Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

From his lap, Opal hissed. Opal was Severus' pet cat. Her glossy white fur ran sleek against his hand. He loved to rub her belly absent-mindedly, and she did as well. Although Jane preferred dogs, she too admitted that Opal was special, something unique, something impossible not to love.

A Runespoor glided through the cat-flap by the door. Multiple hissings from each of the three heads caused Severus Snape to look up from the book he had been reading. 

Voldemort only used the Runespoor for showy purposes. He was probably holding another one of his Dark Masquerades. 

Opal hissed at the snake again, reminding Severus about it. 

The middle head regurgitated a small scroll, and it abruptly hissed at him and left the way it had come.

Opal leaped gracefully off his lap, padded across the floor, hesitated to pick up the scroll in her mouth but did so despite her revulsion, and lept back into his lap. He gently removed the parchment from her mouth, pressed his thumb to the seal (A/N: Refer to "Pawn to Queen" for an explanation), and quickly scanned the scratchy handwriting, written with blood.

"Dear Severus,

I require your attendance at a formal gathering of my most trusted followers three nights henceforth. Do not wear your uniforms, but rather a costume.

Bring your female partner. She should be in costume as well.

Attendance is mandatory.

Lord Voldemort."

Severus leaned back in his chair. Jane would have to be taught what to expect, how to behave, what to say… if _anything_ she did was wrong, she would be killed. And James would know whom to blame.

Opal butted his hand with her nose. "You silly cat," Severus cooed. "Always demanding attention." He stroked her back, and she began to purr. She may demand attention, but she knew precisely how to respond when she got it.

"Jane!" he shouted through the open window.

"What!" she replied in a tone as equally loud, irrespective, and simply as distracted.

"I need to talk to you!"

Sigh. "Coming…"

A few minutes later, Jane strode in. Several sprays of blue-black hair escaped an unsuccessful bun and floated on the air when she moved. A turquoise tank top covered the dip in her shoulders and simply abandoned her two inches before her blue jeans came into play. Grass stains, old and new, perched on her knees. Her hands were a bright pink. A quick scan told Severus what she had begun before he had called her.

"Why do you even bother with that hunk of junk? Face it Jane; it's not going to ever run."

"Just because you have no respect for my baby doesn't mean I've given up hope for her."

She had been trying vainly to repair her 1966 Mustang convertible, a worn blue shade, with the fender falling off. A nasty accident with some jerk had crippled her first and only car.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" she grumbled. She hated debating her baby with Severus. He always had much better reasons for trashing it than she did for saving it. Which basically amounted to any argument she had ever had with him. His pet name for her was "My Little Pack-Rat". Hers for him was "Shut-up, Smart Ass".

He decided to skip the stalling tactic and cut straight to the crap. "Lord Voldemort holds these Dark Masquerades every once and a while, and we all attend with our… current partner. We're invited, and there's no possible excuse for not going."

Jane was staring at her short fingernails and picking at some dirt underneath them. She was learning to control herself. At least she could learn control.

Finally she looked up to meet his eyes. "What will we be going as?"

Severus lept out of his chair to hug her tightly. "I love you!" he shouted, like a little boy whose mother's finally told him he could have a puppy. They sat down on the linoleum and leaned against each other's shoulders.

She grinned uncontrollably. Severus could always make her feel special. 'Too bad James couldn't see past the Slytherin crest,' Jane thought bitterly. 'They might have gotten along.'

Her thoughts snapped back to that night of collapsing on the floor in despair, only to find Snape right behind her, holding her, rocking her, comforting her, reassuring her. 

A Gryffindor would never do that. He'd tell her to be strong, that everything would be okay. A Slytherin could look a bad situation in the face, and merely bear up to meet it. A Gryffindor would wait until the last minute to be "brave" and take the worst, and most likely collapse under the wave.

"I was thinking maybe… Actually, I was thinking about how I'm going to teach you how to act." Severus grinned.

"What do you mean?" Jane asked. 

"Well, there's only certain safe responses to certain things. Like if someone mentions Muggles, what to say, Dumbledore, honesty, lying, and… er… Lucius Malfoy."

Jane tensed under his arms.

"Why don't we just sell our furniture?" she asked after a moment of breathing in his smell of cat hairs, coffee, and peppermint.

"What?!"

"We never really use it. Somehow, we always end up on the floor, hugging each other."

A warm chuckle rang out from his throat. Jane grinned and snuggled closer to his maroon terry-cloth robe.

"But seriously, what do you think about costumes?"

Severus moved his arms from her waist to her shoulders. He wracked his mind of all the books he'd ever read.

"I have no ideas at the moment. Do you?"

"No. Not really. I guess we'll just think about it as the day goes along." Jane stood up and reached a hand towards his coffee mug. Before Severus could stop her, she threw it back in her throat.

Lines creased her forehead. "Hmmm… French roast… a hint of milk and cream… honey, lots of it, and… whiskey, Severus?"

He could feel his cheeks burning. "I'm suicidal in the mornings…" he joked. "I need a pick-me-up."

She pecked him on the cheek and headed towards the screen door. Opal meowed from a the top of a china cabinet. 

"You keep an eye on him, Opal. Don't let him add vodka to that mix."

The cat scrunched up her nose in agreement.

~

"I hate this dress," she hissed in his ear. She brushed aside a tight spiral curl and continued. "I can't breathe."

"Hey, you were the one who came up with the idea. You should've considered the corset."

"I didn't know it'd be down to every last detail! Do you know how many layers are under this skirt?!"

"At least you don't have a mask! What if an Auror sees me? I'll be minced meat before he even sees the other part of the costume!"

(A/N: I would dearly love to keep y'all guessing, but wahhh, you'll most likely flame me if I don't.)

Jane had suggested that they attend the ball as Christine and the Phantom of the Opera. An expensive, sweeping black cloak and tuxedo with white gloves were not at all hard to find. A half-mask was fairly hard to order without questioning looks. Suspicion dominated every purchase these days.

Jane's costume was a completely different matter. Blood red satin sloped off her figure with tiny red diamonds frosting a necklace that adorned the extremely low-cut bosom of her dress and two silver earring loops gave an elegant effect to her neck. Gold trim flowed across the folds of her dress. White silk gloves were pulled up past her elbow, and a sparkling diamond snake ran along her right wrist and slithered up her arm. 

"I don't feel like Christine," she mumbled. 

"And I don't feel like I could ever sing half as well as Michael Crawford. But what the hell! Just remember what I've told you…"

Jane silently ran over the rules of conduct in her head.

The large, iron doors swung open at the mere touch of a finger. Inside, colors swirled and mixed. 

"I feel sick," she whispered, her knees melting beneath her. 

"Just think about something happy. Like a Patronus spell," he hissed in her ear. 'How could I be so stupid as to forget to tell her about the Dementor curses?'

Dementor curses were an assault to keep those weak of mind away from the area.

"Voldemort first. We have to prove to him our presence."

Jane tried to brace herself. A mental image of steel encased her mind and body. She should be untouchable by the Dark Lord now.

He was sitting on a throne opposite from the entrance. It was carved from ebony, with the shape of screaming, naked bodies strewn on a forest floor with evil-looking snakes devouring them alive. As Jane stared at the vulgarity of the throne, she realized that the snakes were _moving_. They were alive! Asps, water moccasins, and the occasional cobra slithered over the wood. One cobra ventured off the polished grain and into the Dark Lord's lap. It nestled its head under his hand, and he began to stroke it lovingly. It reminded her of a twisted version of James and their pet dog on the farm where they had grown up.

Severus bent down on one knee before his Master, jerking Jane out of her shock. She followed suit. Lord Voldemort laughed. 

"So, Severus… I see you have tamed your whore to pay respect to her superiors." Jane didn't need to look up to know that Voldemort was wearing a cruel sneer. Her blood began to boil, and she wanted nothing more than to sink her fingernails into his reptilian skin, but she managed to restrain herself.

"Yes, my Lord. He has served you well," she found herself saying quite politely. Damn survival instincts.

He laughed. It sent the hairs on her neck standing up straight.

"Go now. Enjoy the gala, and Severus, do try to refrain from being possessive this time."

Severus and Jane stood up together, his fingers barely holding onto her elbow.

Once they were out of earshot, she whispered in his ear, "What did he mean 'not be possessive'?"

He blushed and ducked his head. "Er… Lucius Malfoy and er… the LeStranges like to… share… partners… with the others…"

"Oh."

The music was mostly classical symphonies composed by ancient pure-blood families. Jane begged Severus to keep dancing with her. She didn't want to stop and be… "shared."

"Jane, I can't keep dancing like this…" he panted. "I've hit twelve people with my cloak!"

"Fine," she whispered, a frown across her face. He led her over to the refreshment table. A crystal bowl and fountain of red wine and champagne sparkled in the center of the display. Many different kinds of Japanese soups, Greek salads, Italian pasta, British finger sandwiches, German meat, and French pastries filled the silver platters. The black silk table-covers draped over the pine tables, pulled up at the corners by golden rope. Jane cautiously picked up a crystal plate, silver diningware, and silver chalice. She chose fettuccini Alfredo, Caesar salad, and beer-soaked venison with rich red wine. Severus picked up a bowl of wonton soup and sipped nervously. Several Death Eaters and their partners came up to them with small talk about how once the Muggles were completely wiped off the planet, then and only then could wizards and witches respect themselves. Jane specifically remembered one small, chubby man with a sleazy, half-drunk prostitute hanging on his arm. 

"Come on, Peter. I'm not hanging around this long and go home un-fucked," she whined. Jane particularly remembered their costumes: King Arthur and his half-sister Morgan LeFay. Their elaborate costumes were obviously cheap, but well made. Peter was wearing a full set of mail and a long red cloak. A sword with gilded handle hung by his left hip. The prostitute's outfit was deep plum, the skirt dragging behind her, with black lace outlining the bosom, sleeve, and the part of her skirt pulled up to her hip. Her shoes were nothing special. Her legs, however, were a different matter. Lucius Malfoy brushed past them on his way to the punch bowl, and did a double take as he glanced at her legs. His partner pulled him away, her nose in the air.

"Just a minute. But Severus, what is _she _doing here?" Peter made an obvious gesture at Jane.

"My date, Peter. I will wipe her memory once we leave."

Peter sighed with relief. "That's good. I wouldn't want her to tell... well… _them_ about me."

"Come on, baby. Let's go screw," the prostitute slurred. Peter shrugged in dismissal of himself, and left with his partner towards the staircase across the room.

Jane and Severus found a table, and as Jane was rearranging her dress so it wouldn't wrinkle, Severus muttered, "_Obliviate_." Jane paused for a moment, looked up, as if startled, and returned to her skirts.

She chewed on her lip, attempting to hold back her tears. He had really tried to wipe her memory! He didn't trust her! Could she trust him again? Maybe he didn't really love her…

She dismissed that thought from her mind with an imaginary slap. Severus did love her. He had to. She couldn't survive without it.

They finished their small meal quietly. Jane carefully replaced and rebuilt her armor during their awkward silence.

Severus tore himself up inside for wiping her memory. Apparently he cared more about the Death Eaters' trust of him than hers. Apparently he didn't want the Potters warned of the spy in their midst. 'You're slimy filth that rots in the light. You don't deserve this beautiful ray of sunshine.' He was, of course, referring to Jane.

He stood up and reached out a hand to her arm. "Come on, Jane. I'm ready to dance again." But her armor lashed out at him. His hand was burned, and the skin rapidly shriveled and turned an acidic black.

Jane fainted.

~

Her eyelids fluttered open, and Jane became aware of the back of a palm caressing her cheek. She started. "Shhhh, love. Shhhh…" 

Her brain cleared under the soothing sounds. She noticed soothing green walls and white sheets. She was in Severus's bedroom. Away from that horrible castle.

"Severus?" she croaked.

"What, darling?"

"Are you okay? Your hand?"

"Just a tad burned. I hadn't expected you to have armor. My own fault, really."

"What did You-Know-Who say?"

"Nothing much. Just a few Unforgivables, and he sent us back here." He didn't include Malfoy's attempt to rape Jane, although she was unconscious.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I shouldn't have subjected you to that place."

"I don't mind. It was kind of like going to a business meeting, but only more cruel." Jane grinned sadly.

"I really love you."

"I know."

A/N: Star Wars! MWA HA HA!! 

Anyway. I finally finished this chapter! About time, huh? ;-P

School let's out this Friday at 3:30 p.m., but I have three more exams before that happens! So far, I know I have about a 96 on my History, and there's not much hope for Science. I hate Plate Boundaries…

Morbidness ROX! Tee hee. Anyway, I hope you don't mind how… unconventional… I got on this chapter.

Don't forget to review!


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